


Skinned Flesh

by Taste_of_Suburbia



Series: an unquiet mind [14]
Category: From Paris with Love (2010)
Genre: Angst, Blood Loss, Established Relationship, Fire, Fluff, Horror, Immolation, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mindfuck, Romance, Scars, Serious Injuries, Torture, h/c_bingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2019-10-30
Packaged: 2021-01-15 03:42:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21246911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taste_of_Suburbia/pseuds/Taste_of_Suburbia
Summary: “Your hair smells like smoke,” Wax questioned, pressing his face into Reece’s hair and inhaling.





	Skinned Flesh

**Author's Note:**

> What better way to try to get in the Halloween spirit than writing a few ficlets for my [current] favorite fandom? Even if one of my characters would rather I leave him out of it. Per the below mini series, this fits firmly into the tricks category, with warnings for torture, fire, immolation, knife scars, blood loss and general mindfuckery. 
> 
> This first part is also a fill on my h/c_bingo card for [Scars.](https://immolate-the-silence.dreamwidth.org/34933.html)
> 
> **Series:** an unquiet mind
> 
> **mini series:** tricks and treats and the in-between: _Part 1:_ tricks  
_Part 2:_ Postponement - [HERE](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21247061)  
_Part 3:_Things In Life We Can't Control - [HERE](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21276953)

“Your hair smells like smoke,” Wax questioned, pressing his face into Reece’s hair and inhaling.

Reece pushed him away half-heartedly, amused at his partner’s strange behavior which wasn’t strange at all if he admitted to Wax always finding ways to get his hands on him. “I’m not a bouquet of flowers, Wax.”

He felt something shift in Wax then, a certain tensing of his shoulders as he froze, a hand sliding into his pocket to leave something behind and withdrawing reluctant and empty. He felt Wax swallow, pressed as tightly to Reece as he was, fingers trailing down the side of his neck featherlight as he pressed a hesitant kiss to the corner of his mouth. “No matter,” he finally spoke, words cracked and  _raw, _ and something in his voice told Reece that he was trying to distract him from something. “I love you no matter what you smell like, Reece cup.”

“It’s all part of the job, right?” Reece joked, voice trembling minutely for a reason he couldn’t fathom as his partner watched him with an intense curiosity that Reece couldn’t make sense of.

He’d just made it out of a burning building practically before it collapsed on top of him, crushing him underneath three stories of rubble. Wax should know this because he had  _been _ there, in the thick of it, fire licking at their backs and at the soles of their feet and at Reece’s determination to survive.

Right?

Was the fact that he couldn’t remember details be because he was suppressing them? Had Wax been there at all?

And how had they gotten here?

Wax examined the long slice puncturing his back, fingertips dabbing at blood Reece had believed long dried up, causing him to flinch, causing his insides to twist in unfounded anxiety and with an indecipherable warning. “That’ll scar,” he tsked, gaze roaming over the entirety of Reece’s back as if cutting into it from desire alone. “Not that you’re not as pretty and sexy as ever.”

Bad instinct severed, Reece reddened and rolled his shirt back down, which bore nearly more holes now than actual fabric but oh well... “Wax!”

The outraged shout jolted him out of his precarious reverie.

The sensation of ropes digging deeper into his wrists was immediate, peeling back skin and tearing at self-control and filling him with queasiness. The only memory he could pull to the surface to distract him was Wax’s hardened face and flippant tone: “Fine. You wanna work this case on your own, be my guest. I’ll see you on the other side, lone gunman. Wax in, Wax out.”

He knew he had hurt his partner by pushing him away, had hurt  _Wax_ , someone he loved more than his heart could take. 

He knew he had screwed up beyond repair, beyond salvation…

Reece tested the bonds securing him to the chair, a familiar pain rippling through overexerted limbs an aggravating and horrible reminder that this wasn’t the first time. He wondered how much longer he could remain conscious, blood pooling at his feet, dripping in-between his bare toes, most if not  _all _ broken; soaking his mutilated ankles, burned and carved into; chilling him down to the very essence of who Reece was, though not as much as Wax’s final glance and words had. 

He thought about all the changes he’d make, the ones he’d  _never _ get to make. He thought about their crappy little apartment and their lumpy, unmade little bed and the same takeout night after night and Wax’s classical music cranked up so loud and Wax wanting him no matter what shitty mood he was in and Reece taking advantage of it all, every little thing and always wanting more when he knew now that there was nothing left to have, that he  _had _ had it all and he’d let it all slip from his fingers just as surely as he was slipping out from the world’s own. 

Wax had no hint of where he was, couldn’t track Reece’s phone if it wasn’t really on, wouldn’t drive through back alleys and barge through familiar haunts in a mindless search for him. There was no reason for him to sense that anything was wrong; maybe if he hadn’t heard from Reece for a few days, not just a few  _hours. _

_I’ll see you on the other side…_

_Wax’s hand lingered on his neck, fingers pressing into Reece’s hair, thumb absentmindedly stroking his earlobe as he paid particular attention to the underside of Reece’s chin, the sensitive patch of skin below his ear, the corner of his mouth that would first curve upward in the hint of a smile, with a mouth reeking of blood and candy corn and gasoline…_

_The flick of a lighter and Reece’s body was lighting up in fire, heated blade carving a long, straight line at his back, blood soaking through his shirt and into Wax’s hand the last twinge of bearable pain he felt before he started to ripple and sear and burn. _

_I’ll see you on the other side, baby…_

Reece could feel his own flesh sizzling, could hear it cooking and smell it  _reeking_ and could see Wax’s intense concentration never waver in a purpose hidden from Reece, possessed by a means to destroy... 

And then the room was empty again.

He wondered how much more he could scream before his throat closed up and his voice - spilling out his suffering into the dank, cold, dark and cavernous space he was drowning in - was lost to the world forever.

**FIN**


End file.
